Petition hit out at Gurnell plan
AN impressive new leisure centre is to be built to replace Ealing’s outdated Gurnell Leisure Centre.
The plans include new swimming pools, fun pools, saunas and steam rooms, but despite this many locals are unhappy about the proposals, which also includes hundreds of new homes.
The current design for the centre will see it house one of only four 50m indoor swimming pools in the capital.
There will also be a fun pool for children with slides and water features.
There will also be a sauna and steam rooms, reception and cafe, a children’s indoor soft play area and a large 100-plus station gym with three large studios with sprung floors.
The whole centre will be wheelchair accessible.
There are also plans for a new children’s playground, skate park and BMX facility, which will be provided in a separate planning application.
There will be 175 leisure car parking spaces, 168 residential spaces, four coach parking spaces, two drop-off areas and around 1,030 cycle spaces.
Also on the site, there will also be two commercial units to serve the local community and 612 new residential homes, with a communal roof terrace and a large indoor residents’ hub.
Roughly 65% (or 209) of these will be affordable homes.
There will be 56 studio apartments, 277 one-beds, 234 two-beds and 45 three-beds.
A large part of the residential properties will be on the site currently used for car parking.
However, as Ealing Council and developer Ecoworld renegotiate a deal to redevelop the leisure centre and build several new residential blocks, a petition against the project is gaining support.
The original plan was for Ecoworld
to build all 612 of the proposed apartments as well as the centre, but now it appears the council will have to foot a multi-million pound bill to build the leisure centre and roughly 200 of the apartments.
The cabinet report notes some funding could come from the Greater London Authority’s (GLA) Building Council Homes for Londoners programme.
The council says Gurnell Leisure Centre is at the end of its operational life and operates at a loss, and the goal is to deliver a new centre.
As the council cannot afford to foot the entire bill, the plan had been for Ecoworld to build a new centre and, while doing so, a large residential development for private sale.
This residential development is planned to include 612 new properties spread out across a number of tower blocks, which some residents say will create overcrowding and be an eyesore.
In September, Ealing Council’s cabinet agreed in principle to be responsible for directly delivering both the leisure centre and roughly 200 units across two tower blocks, all of which will be affordable housing.
Ecoworld would deliver the remainder of the scheme for open market sale.
The report presented to cabinet noted: “This would be a change from the baseline approach which had previously been developed where the developer would build out the full scheme.”
Further reports will now be brought back to cabinet seeking authority to invite tenders for construction and to seek approval for a contractor and approval of a budget.
The cost to the council was held in an appendix, which was deemed confidential.
However, the report does note there is an added risk from spending that was not budgeted for, which would be in the multiple-millions.
The cabinet report also agreed that the project should, in the meantime, progress to the planning phase and that the developer should submit a planning application for the entire Gurnell scheme.
Stop the Gurnell Overdevelopment currently has a petition online at www.change.org/p/stop-the-gurnell-overdevelopment, with 585 signatures.
The petition argues the development is planned for a flood plain and is designated as Metropolitan Open Land (MOL), which the group says is afforded the same degree of protection as green belt.
The group also raise objections over the impact to local infrastructure from the increased population, including on NHS, schools, public transport and parking.